Examined longitudinal effects of kindergarten attendance on academic achievement through high school with students who attended public or nonpublic kindergarten, or neither one. Found that students with either kind of kindergarten experience had higher ACT scores and grade point averages. Found no significant differences in number of students…

Investigated classroom management techniques of K-12 teachers whose classrooms included children with Down Syndrome. Teachers, all selected by parents as successful, reported that praise was the best motivator for the Down Syndrome children, and the most effective learning methods were individual and small-group instruction, hands-on activities,…

Investigated the relationship between the goals of the AmericaReads program for K-3 students and tutors' adherence to these goals by examining artifacts from the tutoring sessions, including audiotapes, interviews with supervisors, and questionnaires completed by tutors. Found an inconsistent fidelity to tutoring expectations, which was explained…

Investigated the early childhood teacher's role in selecting, reading, and making accessible high-quality children's books, and providing reading opportunities. Twenty-one teachers' responses showed that they mostly read books recommended for literary quality; a smaller portion of the books accessible to the children were of high quality. Problems…

Examined non-award-winning "easy-to-read" books for character gender differences. Found that both female and male characters were most likely to be pictured in a leisure activity. Otherwise, males were more likely to be seen with a production artifact. Females were equally likely to be seen with a production or household artifact. Compared…

Investigated problem-solving methods used by 3 sixth-graders working on a variety of mathematics problems over the school year. Found that the students used different strategies: one used visual strategies, one a more verbal approach, and the third a combination of the two. Over time, all three moved toward more nonvisual, verbal/analytic forms of…

Investigated teaching experiences and methods in Nigerian primary schools, using classroom observations and interviews with 3 teachers for 10 consecutive days. Examined the teachers' perceptions of learning and the congruence between teachers' expressed perspectives and observed teaching. Found that the teachers varied widely in their views of…

Examined how the concept of quality in the Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale (ECERS) is concretized in pedagogical processes, in a comparison of classroom observations in Germany and Sweden. Observers from each country evaluated preschools in the other country, using the ECERS. Comparisons showed the benefits of using ECERS for facilitating…

Examines an in-service training program in music for child-care personnel working with infants and toddlers. Concludes that in-service training of child-care personnel in music results in improvement in group leadership and music skills. Infants and toddlers showed increased visual and vocal engagement. (DAJ)

Determines the language children use to express their feelings of satisfaction with private music lessons. Offers a list of statements from children about private music lessons to be used to assess those feelings. Discusses the effects of age, gender, and musical instruments on satisfaction for music educators. Includes references. (DAJ)

Explains that labor songs were song parodies with lyrics frequently written by college students. States that labor songs were used not to teach about music, but about labor concepts. Reports that labor colleges taught singing and acting to prepare students to speak in front of large crowds. (DAJ)

Explains that elementary students could not tell the difference between the expressive and dynamically even versions of folk songs. Indicates ninth graders were more consistent in their preference choices than students in other grades. States that music education and music performance instruction are important in the development of aesthetic…

Explores the musical backgrounds and beliefs of nonmusicians and the relationship of these variables to music appreciation. Finds that students with past emotional responses to classical music said that the music contained emotional content, guessed the emotional response that most closely matched the composer's intent, and listened to the music…

Evaluates the expressive performances of ensembles and individuals in order to address the relationship between individual and ensemble expressive performance achievement. Questions the validity of using ensemble expressiveness as an indicator of individual expressive achievement. Suggests that efforts to separate technical and expressive aspects…

Investigated college faculty members' views about student evaluations of teaching. Most women faculty believed that student evaluations were biased against female teachers, though they were confident in their identities as conscientious teachers. Respondents offered first- and second-hand accounts of student sexism and prejudice. Women's…